THE GARDEN OF THE TUILERIES. The Tuileries is but the remains of its former glory. The main front of the building was burned by the Commune in 1871, and after remaining a picturesque ruin for some years was at length removed. The wing nearest the Rue de Rivoli shared the fate of the front, but was rebuilt, together with the Pavillon de Marsan, which formed the angle. The Pavillon de Flore, at the other end, suffered much less, and had only to be restored. Both wings, and, indeed, the entire building, are a marvel of exterior ornamentation. Before the Revolution the Tuileries was only the occasional residence of the French sovereign, but Napoleon made it his principal abode, and his example was followed by his successors. The picture is taken from the exquisite gardens of the Tuileries facing the Place de la Concorde.
ARC DE TRIOMPHE, PARIS, FRANCE. This, the distinctive triumphal arch of Paris, is more specifically known as l’ Arc de l’ Étoile, to differentiate it from three other triumphal arches of less celebrity. It stands at the west end of the Avenue des Champs Elysées on the summit of a slope, which makes it visible from all parts of Paris and the environs. It is not only the largest arch in existence, but the most magnificent ever erected. Begun by Napoleon in 1806, to commemorate the wars of the Revolution and of the Empire, it was completed thirty years later by Louis Philippe. The total cost was about $2,000,000. The height of the arch above the ground is one hundred and fifty-two feet, its width one hundred and thirty-eight feet, its thickness sixty-eight feet. The main archway measures ninety feet in height and forty-five in width; the smaller lateral archways are each fifty-seven feet by twenty-five. The bas-reliefs represent the most famous events of 1792–1815. Finest of all are the two colossal groups on each side of the central arch facing the Champs Elysées, cut in full relief and representing the “Departure of the Troops in 1792” and “The Triumph of Napoleon after the Austrian Campaign.”
NAPOLEON’S TOMB, PARIS, FRANCE. Under the splendid dome of the Church of the Invalides, in a huge circular crypt below the level of the floor, is the tomb of the Great Napoleon I. The sarcophagus, hewn out of a single block of granite brought from Finland, was the gift of the Emperor Nicholas, when in 1841 the remains of the Emperor were brought back from St. Helena by the Prince de Joinville. The crypt is adorned with marble reliefs symbolical of Napoleon’s reforms and with twelve colossal figures of victory and sixty mouldering banners captured from the enemy. There are also monuments to Vauban and Turenne, Napoleon’s most illustrious predecessors in the field. At the entrance to the crypt lie the bodies of Bertrand and Duroc, the near friends and companions of Napoleon. The monuments or the remains of various members of the Bonaparte family are in the upper part of the church.
CHAMBER OF DEPUTIES, PARIS, FRANCE. This is sometimes called the Palais Bourbon. It is the seat of the French parliament. It is a large classical building on the left bank of the Seine, facing the Pont de la Concorde. The old façade was in the Rue de l’ Université at the back; the new one, with its Corinthian colonnade, was erected in 1804. The hall is a semi-circular room, with the President’s chair facing the extremity of the half circle. Here sat the Council of Five Hundred, Louis Philippe’s Chamber and Napoleon III’s Corps Legislatif, and here at present sit the deputies elected from the various districts of the French republic. Orators address the Chamber from the tribune, which is placed immediately under the President’s chair. Voting is done by means of white or blue cards, placed in tin receptacles that are handed round by the ushers; the white being an “aye,” the blue “nay.”
THÉÂTRE DE L’OPERA, PARIS. The new Opera House, in Paris, is the handsomest, though not the largest, temple of amusement in the world. It will hold twenty-one hundred people, while La Scala, in Milan, holds three thousand. The stage, however, in cubic and superficial area, is the largest known. It is equaled by others in depth, but surpasses them all in breadth. The exterior is bewildering in the richness of its decorations. The grand staircase and the foyer are in magnificent keeping with the exterior. This building is one of the creations of the Second Empire. More than one hundred houses were torn down to clear the square on which it stands. It was inaugurated on January 1st, 1875. The total cost is estimated at $8,000,000. The opera is managed by a director, who receives from the State an allowance of eight hundred thousand francs a year. He has to supply what is necessary and run all risks.
